Bengal women’s panel seeks report on newly-wed couple

The West Bengal Commission for Women Wednesday sought a police report on the arrest of a man and harassment of his newly-wed wife following complaints from her family that she had allegedly been abducted.

The relatives of the woman, Komal Srivas, who comes from a rich diamond merchants’ family, lodged the complaint against her husband, Sagar Srivas, July 27, six days after the couple left Kolkata and married July 22.

Sagar Srivas was detained in Madhya Pradesh and brought to the city where he was arrested Aug 4 by officers under the Bidhannagar police commissionerate.

After spending a month in custody, he was granted bail by the Calcutta High Court Tuesday.

“We have written to the Biddhanagar police commissionerate asking for details of the case, why he (Sagar Srivas) was arrested and his wife harassed,” said the women’s commission chief Sunanda Mukherjee.

She said the police action contravened the Special Marriage Act, 1956, which provided that two consenting adults could tie the knot irrespective of their caste or religion.

Komal Srivas alleged that some of her relatives had filed the complaint as they were against the marriage.

She alleged that when she furnished the marriage certificate to officers from Bidhannagar, they threw it away. “They misbehaved with me. They did not even care to listen to us when we said we were legally married”.

Komal Srivas had moved the high court Monday pleading for police protection as her family members were “threatening” her.